No Senate bid for Tagg Romney

Tagg Romney said Monday he won’t be a candidate in the Massachusetts Senate special election, but he left open the door to running for office in the future.

“I have been humbled by the outreach I received this weekend encouraging me to become a candidate for the U.S. Senate,” Mitt’s eldest son wrote in a statement Monday evening. “I love my home state and admit it would be an honor to represent the citizens of our great Commonwealth. However, I am currently committed to my business and to spending as much time as I can with my wife and children. The timing is not right for me, but I am hopeful that the people of Massachusetts will select someone of great integrity, vision, and compassion as our next US Senator.”

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Former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey also took her name out of the hat Monday, a recognition of just how low the GOP odds are of a pickup.

It was always a far-fetched idea that a Romney would run to fill the seat opened up by John Kerry’s departure for the State Department.

Mitt Romney did not seek a second term as governor in 2006, partly because he would have had a hard time winning and he wanted to lurch to the right on a host of issues to position himself against John McCain in the 2008 Republican primaries.

Even last November, Obama crushed Romney in the Bay State by 23 points, a significantly bigger margin than Scott Brown’s defeat to Elizabeth Warren for the Senate seat.

But chatter increased in recent days, fueled by a thinly-sourced report in the conservative-leaning Boston Herald. There was some, even more inconceivable, talk over the weekend that Ann Romney might even run.

Republicans have struck out finding a top-tier candidate for a seat that now looks safely Democratic. After Scott Brown announced Friday that he would not run, former state Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei said Saturday he would pass. Earlier Monday, former Gov. William Weld also said he would not run.

Tagg Romney, 42, is the most politically-minded of the five Romney boys. He seemed to enjoy his time on the trail as a surrogate, playing a key behind-the-scenes role in the campaign.

One other Republican who might still seek the Senate nomination is Gabriel Gomez, a former Navy SEAL who works in finance.

State Rep. Dan Winslow, who was Romney’s legal counsel as governor and Scott Brown’s campaign counsel, will announce his plans for the special in a news release Tuesday morning. He’ll then make himself available for interviews “as his schedule allows,” according to a media advisory.

As Republicans recognize the steep odds, the stakes rise for the Democratic nomination. Reps. Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch will face off in an April 30 primary. The special election is June 25.